Sorry for the mild rant. 

Please state any and all opinions, also please don't offend others...

I have noticed that there are pretty good bowlers who buy bowling balls on a whim....With (imo) no rhyme or reason.  The purchase isn't to replace a ball, or complete an arsenal...or even fill a gap.  Most of the time it's not even a ball I would even think about bringing to the center (if I were that person)...and we wonder why it doesn't work, they don't score, and it doinks 10 pins all night.

It drives me nuts! I see people buying balls because someone else got it, not because it is logical.   

I used to want and buy all the new balls when they are released and have learned my lesson to not do that.  Wasted a lot of money on balls that just don't match up to my style.  Now I do a lot more research, and like buying a brand new model of car, I wait a little while until I read the reviews and see how people do with them in real life, not from what staffers say.  Can't always believe the car salesman.  No offense, but you know what I mean.  lol

I try to not follow the trend that I need one just because I see a dozen of other bowlers using the same ball or I need 10 balls to cover everything. Majority of the time, I'm buying a ball that no one else is using. I look at my game, examine what's working and what's not and then I do my research to find a ball that will best suite my style of bowling. The last two years for me has been a trial and error to see what layouts work for me because my swing has changed drastically. Mainly, it's been due to wrist injuries and concentrating more on accuracy than power. Everyone in my area loves DV8 and Brunswick balls and I've seen many of them getting them because they see the next bowler shooting really good with one. But then complains that the ball isn't doing what they want it to do without looking at their own game first.

I will sometimes tell people that you can have a 20 ball arsenal but if you don't work on mechanics, body motions, reading the lanes and adjusting to change, then you'll be lost.

I can't afford to just go out and buy everything. Every ball I have purchased since 2008 with the Cell Solid has been an arsenal purchase, replacing 16# with 15#.
I remember when the Black Widow came out. It struck me as Hammer's answer to the Vapor Zone, which I had.

I buy only partly on hype, but mostly on research. I bought the IQ Pearl right after it was released, like a bunch did at my center. When the Fusion came out, I did not consider that ball, as it did not fit my arsenal needs. Instead, I got a Supernatural, and the Sync, a ball that only a few have at my center, and none of them have any hand.

I don't buy many balls myself as I only bowl one league a week (also am very frugal, or as my wife says "cheap"). I am very rev dominant and for me to buy the latest "hook in a box" I may as well throw my money out the window while driving down the road. I just bought a LT-48 (first new ball in 4 years) and love it.